Nightstalker

About Me

Hey folks!My name is Nick!I really love building LEGO; I've been building since I was about 3 or 4 and my collection is only a couple years younger than myself. I enjoy building castle and mythic sci-fi builds. I just recently graduated from UMW with a BS in Computer Science; with any luck, you'll be seeing my builds rather frequently. Anyways, I've been inspired by so many builders and I always look to get better and better in building. Oh yeah! If you're ever curious, check out my Brickshelf Page at:http://www.brickshel...Nightstalker580. Hope you enjoy!

Last post I talked about coming up with a design for your units, and now I have some WIP units to show off. But before I show them off, it is time to explain my great dilemma!

The Bara-Gol Orcs consist of five different orc clans. For the sake of saving the lore bits for the final bit, they are divided by color:

- Dark Red

- Dark Blueish Gray

- Sand Green/Green

- Tan/Dark Tan

- Reddish Brown/Flesh

The thing that I have to take into account is that each group looks different. Apart from the weapons they wield, each orc has to look different depending on the clan. So, for starters, I have the Dark Red Orcs to show.

They were based off of the Blackrock Orcs from WoW:

These guys are supposed to be more armored than the other clans and are more militarized than the others. Due to their location near a volcano, they have access to forging good armor, compared to the scavenged armor that most of the other orcs use.

Now, I still need a bunch of orc faces for these guys. That includes female faces as well; the ratio should be 4 male to 2 female. So yeah, a decal order is probably going to go up next month, simply because I've already flooded Scorp's box with 3 commissions.

The torso's and legs being used are from Nexo Knights. Yes, I know, I hate Nexo Knights as a Castle theme, but they still have some decent minifigs. More importantly, because no one else likes them, the parts were dirt cheap! Once the faces are on these orcs, this clan will be done. Next up, I'll probably work on the Gray ones.

Got some LEGO related news. While it may not be TLG related, I was notified by email that BrickForge will be closing in the next couple of months. After 13 years of business, it appears as though we will be losing yet another vendor.

So pour one out, press F to pay respects, say your last words, and buy up anything that you want that's left!

Theme: The Bara-Gol Orcs are an army of fierce warriors. They are brutish fighters, wielding crude, but effective weaponry. Often found in melee fights, these orcs exhibit traits of powerful barbarians.

Soft-Cap: 200

- 25 Units of Axemen

- 25 Units of Two-Handed Axemen (Orc Armsmen)

- 25 Units of Archers

- 25 Units of Swordsmen

- 25 Units of Dual-Wielders (Orc Maulers)

- 25 Units of Spearmen

- 10 Units of Elite Cavalry (Blood Lords)

- 10 Units of Hunters

- 10 Units of Cavalry (Warg Cavalry)

- 10 Units of Shaman

- 10 Units of Rogues (Stalkers)

Now that we've recapped, let's move on with the next part. Putting together minifigs! This is finally the part where you'll start gathering parts for your army. This is, without a doubt, the funnest thing you will do while making an army. In fact, it's so fun, that it is way too easy to lose yourself, or even know where to start! So, let's walk through this.

Gathering Minifigs

Finally, after all of this planning, it is time to collect some minifigs! But how do you go about this? There are multiple ways to start, and you will probably use several of these ways, so let me go over some! But before you go buying figures and pieces willy-nilly you should definitely consider finding some inspiration!

Finding Inspiration

Unless you've got a fantastic idea right off the bat, you'll probably be at a loss for how you want to design your army. Before you buy random parts, I strongly recommend looking up some awesome art or pictures of minifig armies! The idea is to get brainstorming by seeing things that are inspiring. So, for example, when coming up with ideas for my orc army, I started looking at different art for orcs:

Based off of these designs, I developed a unique direction for my army. For obvious reasons, you probably won't be able to 100% base your army on artwork, but that's not the point. The whole point of this step is to simply get an idea for how you want to piece your army together. Once you've gotten enough inspiration, it is time to begin!

Assembling the Army

Alright, let's start! For the purpose of this part, we'll only be looking at the regulars.

1) Answer the following question: "Is my army custom or is it based off of a design already made by TLG?"

- This question must be asked first, as this will point you in a direction. If your army is based off of something created by TLG then cool! If your army is custom, you'll have to put in some additional work. Don't worry about the additional work, we'll cover that later. So, for me to answer this question, yes, the army I'm currently making is custom made.

2) Acquire gear!

- Before you start gathering torsos, legs, and faces, I'd personally start out by gathering things like armor, helmets, and capes. Similar to looking for weapons, you have a whole, online armory at your disposal. Since 3rd party items will typically run anywhere from $1.50-$1.75, I recommend checking out BrickLink first. Why? Because you can find tons of items for under $1 on BrickLink. Likewise, if you are going to go with 3rd party items, follow the two links to the sale categories for BrickWarriors or BrickForge. You might be able to acquire a good amount of items for very little.

- When equipping your minifigs, there tends to be two systems of thought out there. The first one is the army that is unified (see the clones in post 1). The second one is the army that is diversified in its appearance:

Personally, both are valid options, but I typically tend to merge them both. I'd recommend making individual units follow a specific design, but make the designs different from unit to unit. In other words, all of your swordsmen could look the same, but the axemen would have different gear. This allows you to build one unit a specific way and build a different unit another way, which allows for both unity and diversity. Of course, you could float to one of the two camps, it doesn't really matter.

3) Getting Minifig Parts

- As you acquire gear, it will become time to start gathering minifig parts. BrickLink is going to be your main resource. While shops like EclipseGrafx, BrickWarriors, Clone Army Custons, and other places might sell custom parts, you really want to stick to gathering TLG pieces exclusively. Most minifig pieces are fairly priced, with the exception of anything LotR (seriously, avoid these parts for mass collection). As with armor, definitely try to aim for stores with the quantity you are looking for.

- When it comes to your basic units, don't worry about going super detailed into their design. A lot of your really cool looking parts should go into your elite units.

- Gathering faces is also another little detail to add into your army. Just remember a couple of things. 1) If a unit's face is hidden, don't worry about varying their face, and 2) if the unit has a visible face, alternating faces will add more detail and variety to your army. For faces, I'd recommend alternating between five different faces. If different genders are used, you might want to increase the number to six.

- If you are gathering pieces to be decaled, DO NOT GO FOR BLANK DESIGNS! These pieces are typically costly. Instead, look for pieces that have the color you desire. Typically, you can find a random colored chest piece for dirt cheap and cover it with decals.

- Last, but certainly not least, remember what your army theme is! You want pieces that will help you design your army around your theme!

For now, these are some things to keep in mind as you gather.

At this current moment, I don't have much to show on my end, but I'll definitely show you stuff as more things come in.

I'll be using a set if custom ordered decals from Scorp. Oddly enough, the 2009 trolls will be used for a Troll Army (TBA). For me, trolls and orcs have similar designs, but trolls are thin compared to their bulky allies. Think of it like the trolls and orcs from Warcraft.

That's a lot of different weapon choices! How exactly do you go about choosing weapons? Here are some general guidelines I typically follow:

1) Keep your army theme in mind!

- This seems like one of those "duh" moments, but trust me, with so many different weapons, it is very easy to forget what your army is supposed to be! By keeping your theme in mind, you can limit what specific weapons you're looking for. To this end, it might actually be time to modify the theme! So let's do this!

Theme: The Bara-Gol Orcs are an army of fierce warriors.

This theme worked for determining your army units, but now it's time to make this a bit more advanced. However, we don't need to sink too much time into it. Usually a couple of additional sentences will help clarify this. Above, you'll see my current theme for the army; let's specify some things.

Modified Theme: The Bara-Gol Orcs are an army of fierce warriors. They are brutish fighters, wielding crude, but effective weaponry. Often found in melee fights, these orcs exhibit traits of powerful barbarians.

Above you'll see that I specified their weaponry and a battle trait. Between these two sentences, you can gather a couple of things. First off, this army is going to wield crude weapons. Second, I noted that they exhibit traits of powerful barbarians. Granted, barbarians wield all sorts of weapons, typical ones include blunt weapons, axes, spears, and swords. Add in the fact that they're crude, then that means we have crude swords, axes, spears, and blunt weapons. Thankfully, this narrows down the list substantially!

2) Price, Price, Price

- Alright folks, let's be real here. Weapons cost money, and the price gets higher the greater your army. You'll find that a lot of weapons range anywhere from $1 to $1.75. It's for this reason I suggest that you go price hunting! Many times, you'll find that several weapons you like, might cost a pretty penny. Because of this, I strongly recommend checking your favorite vendors for sales! Two of my favorites can be found below:

Of course, Bricklink also remains, which typically allows you to find TLG products for very low prices! Often, I find that setting a limit that you want to spend per weapon really helps!

3) Don't be afraid to go brick built!

- Let me be even more real. Having built two armies, sometimes manufactured weapons don't cut it. Sometimes, you gotta be a little creative and make your own with available pieces! Here's the great thing about taking this route; bricks are really cheap compared to individual weapons. The same can be said about shields as well! Just remember, when using Bricklink, keep an eye out for places that are local (I'll typically go US vendors, just to avoid additional fees) and have the QUANTITY that you desire (helps avoid multiple shipping fees).

4) Arm the Regulars First!

- Don't worry about the Special Units or Uniques just yet! Focus on the main bulk of your force!

By following these three rules, you'll be able to find weaponry that suits your army just fine! However, there is a dark side of buying weapons. Allow me to cover some things that you should avoid (mainly because they're costly). Now, before I get to this, I'll simply say this, I don't recommend doing these next things, but you are more than welcome to dabble in them if you have the funds. Truth be told, I've done the same! Just try not to make it a habit!

AVOID THESE THINGS!!!

1) Avoid Lord of the Rings stuff (LotR)!

- Unless you can find anything LotR related for low prices, just avoid it. Given how popular this theme was and the limited amount of it available, you'll find many LotR weapons, shields, and other gear that is heavily over priced. Most of the equipment will RIVAL or EXCEED the price of gray market equipment!

2) Avoid BrickArms Prototypes!

- I love BrickArms! Will makes some amazing stuff that you can sometimes find on certain sites. However, while they might be cool for a unique, they are not good for making a full set of units. Most prototypes can range anywhere from $5-$25. You can acquire so much more than what you would spend on one proto.

Because I couldn't wait, I'm going to go ahead and jump into the next part of army building:

Setting Unit Types

Alright, you've got a leader, banner/colors (or both), a home, an army size, and divisions within the army. It's time to pull everything together!

Now, before you go setting units, let's talk about Army Themes. An army theme is a broad description of your army. It should be something rather simple, no greater than a sentence.

Ex:

- The Black Falcons are an army of knights and soldiers.

- The Forest Elves are an army of foresters and scouts.

- The Arcane Collective is an army of mages and sorcerers.

The theme will ultimately dictate what your regular units will be. If you decided to go with the Black Falcons example, your regular units should consist of more knight like figures. It a group of mages appeared as regular units, that would just be weird!

Once the theme is set, it's time to to decide what unit types your regulars will have. I'll go ahead and reuse the Black Falcons from the last post.

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Black Falcon Army

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* = Special Units

Soft-Cap: 20

Theme: The Black Falcons are an army of knights and soldiers.

- 4 Units to Swordsmen

- 4 Units to Spearmen

- 4 Units to Crossbowmen

- 4 Units to Type D*

- 4 Units to Type E*

As stated earlier, the regular units represent the theme which was set earlier. Which now brings us to the really cool part of army building: Special Units!

Special units allow you to add flavor to your army. So, what makes them so special? That's simple! They aren't bound by the army theme. Basically, special units can be anything! It could even be elite units of your regulars! Please note, these units do not count as uniques! While they can be unique figures, they aren't one of a kind.

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Black Falcon Army

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* = Special Units

Soft-Cap: 20

Theme: The Black Falcons are an army of knights and soldiers.

- 4 Units to Swordsmen

- 4 Units to Spearmen

- 4 Units to Crossbowmen

- 4 Units to Mages

- 4 Units to Heavy Cavalry

Special units are there to allow you to counter weakness, expand on strength, and add flavor to an otherwise generic army.

So, let me go ahead and follow the example!

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The Army of Bara-Gol

----

* = Special Units

Theme: The Bara-Gol Orcs are an army of fierce warriors.

Soft-Cap: 200

- 25 Units of Axemen

- 25 Units of Two-Handed Axemen (Orc Armsmen)

- 25 Units of Archers

- 25 Units of Swordsmen

- 25 Units of Dual-Wielders (Orc Maulers)

- 25 Units of Spearmen

- 10 Units of Elite Cavalry (Blood Lords)

- 10 Units of Hunters

- 10 Units of Cavalry (Warg Cavalry)

- 10 Units of Shaman

- 10 Units of Rogues (Stalkers)

And there we go! Again, at this point, you shouldn't have any figs (or very little if you do have some). Which brings us to an end for this section.

For today's update, let's talk about something I call, "The Numbers Game."

The Number's Game consists of the following set of tasks:

1) Creating a "soft-cap" for your army.

2) Dividing the "soft-cap" to create unit divisions.

Let's walk through these two little tasks then!

Creating a "soft-cap"

- First off, let's define "soft-cap." A soft-cap is the number that you are looking to hit for your base army, but it can be greater than the number set. Typically, this number represents the entirety of a standing army. This includes regular units and special forces, but does not include unique figures, or other figures (units piloting vehicles, siege weapon crews, other creatures, etc.). The idea for a soft-cap is that this is where you'll ideally want to get your army at. However, you might decide to go above the number at a different time. As general advice, this should be an achievable number, based off of the availability of resources. However, if you do need a good starting number I would personally recommend going with 15 or 25 units for starters. That gives you enough room for some creativity, but it isn't outrageously huge!

Dividing the soft-cap

- Once the soft-cap is set, it's time to begin divvying up the army! This step is pretty fun, because you get to decide what units you want to create, and how many you want to create! This step should factor in your regular units and special units. Remember, uniques, pilots, and crews are not added into this number.

So, now that those have been explained, here's what it looks like!

Example:

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Black Falcon Army

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* = Special Units

Soft-Cap: 20

- 4 Units to Type A

- 4 Units to Type B

- 4 Units to Type C

- 4 Units to Type D*

- 4 Units to Type E*

Keep in mind, your army does not need to remain even! It could look like:

Soft-Cap: 20

- 8 Units to Type A

- 4 Units to Type B

- 4 Units to Type C

- 2 Units to Type D*

- 2 Units to Type E*

In the end, it really is up to you to decide how many of a certain unit type you'll want! This number can be adjusted as you're building the army, but for starters, you should pick a number and stick with it.

That's all there is to it! It's deciding on a size number and splitting it up for different units!

Since I've described it, let me go ahead and do this!

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The Army of Bara-Gol

----

* = Special Units

Soft-Cap: 200

- 25 Units of Type A

- 25 Units of Type B

- 25 Units of Type C

- 25 Units of Type D

- 25 Units of Type E

- 25 Units of Type F

- 10 Units of Type G*

- 10 Units of Type H*

- 10 Units of Type I*

- 10 Units of Type J*

- 10 Units of Type K*

And blamo! My next army is now divided up!

Oh, and at this point, you shouldn't be accumulating any minifgs yet! Don't worry, we're getting closer, but there is still another step of planning that needs to be dealt with!

If you're reading this then you must have some general interest in making awesome armies with LEGO. Alternatively, you're curious on how I do this. Well, it doesn't matter why you're here, I'm going to go into this! More importantly, I will literally be using this topic to showcase building my next army. That's right! Rather than wait for the final reveal, which I typically do, I'm going to walk through my process and thoughts as I build my next army.

Let's get into this!

For starters, what the heck is an army?

According to the Webster, it is an organized military force equipped for fighting on land.

"Duh, Nick, we already know that!" Of course you know that! I specifically want to highlight the whole, "organized military force," bit of it. Now, a lot of times when people want to put together a LEGO army, the first thing they think of is this:

This is a massive clone army. People are taken in by the sheer number of minifigs and set that as their primary goal. That's fine; shoot for the stars! However, acquiring that many minifigs can be a daunting task. More importantly, the average LEGO enthusiast, you don't have the resources to do so! That's 100% fine! Why? Because an army doesn't need to consist of massive troop numbers. Truth be told, for MOC'ing purposes, most people typically end up using 30-35 minifigs. Others might have specialized groups that are roughly a size of 10. Of course, some go for smaller numbers. In the end, it doesn't quite matter; they just need to be an organized military force. I'll touch on the whole "organized" thing a bit later.

Now, before you even consider building an army, the following questions need to be answered:

1) Where is your army from?

- Everyone has a home, even if it's the road.

2) Who's leading this army?

- Are they a King, a Queen, Emperor, or is this a motley group of militia led by a village elder?

3) Under what banner/colors do they unite?

- All armies need some form of recognition! Maybe it's an emblem that exists, maybe it's the colors, perhaps it's the type of weaponry they use.

These three questions should give you a solid foundation for starting your army. I should mention that at this stage of planning, you probably won't have any minifigs assembled yet. That's okay! You shouldn't have any minifigs built, or if you do have any, they should be at very low numbers.

"Can you show us an example?" Sure thing! Without further ado, let me introduce the next army I'll be building!

The next army is *drum roll please* ...

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The Army of Bara-Gol (Orcs).

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1) The orcs are from the lovely little land of Altrairia (left side of the map).

2) Warchief Gromack Urgol

3) They unite specifically under the following emblem:

And there ya go! The first couple of questions answered! From here, I'll be able to build off of this and eventually create a complex faction!

Anyways, that's all for now! Next time, I'll talk about the, "The Number Game," which will fully delve into army sizes and divisions.

Here we go again! Let's start with the parts! Cloth bits are from CapeMadness and the waistcloth is from Arealight Customs. Everything else is from TLG. Not much else to really say. She's quite a simple figure!

Druid is one of the many denizens of the Champion's Realm. Hailing from the Mystic Forest, she was raised to have great respect for the forest. Her mother, raised her in a nearby swamp, where she tended to the land, seeking to study a potential darkness within. Eventually, her mother disappeared, leaving only her journal behind, requesting that Analise finish the work she began. Although curious to follow her mother, Analise stayed behind, investigating the swamp. Over time, she further grew in nature magic, allowing her to use the land around her.

Analise is very compassionate, often choosing to help even the littlest of beings. Much like her mother, Druid is quite intelligent, and has a knack for both magical and nature study.

Name: Argus Skal

Champion Name: Gale

Affiliation: Champion of Light

Similar to the last figure, the cloth is from CapeMadness, the vambraces and sword are from Arealight Customs. Everything else is good ol' TLG!

Gale is the last of his race. Long ago, he and his people chose not to surrender to the Aldaari Empire, which was a very powerful empire of elves. Well, the Emperor didn't like that, so he sent Stormblade (see several posts ago) to eradicate the tribe of wind warriors. Argus was but a young man when the Prince began the systematic slaughter of his people. In the end, he was spared, simply because the Prince hoped he would return one day to put up a worthy challenge. To further cement this, Stormblade burned his body. Argus survived, choosing to don his people's armor, hoping to one day slay the Prince.

Gale commands wind magic and wields an Aldaari Warblade, which he scavenged from the battlefield. His suit contains all of the necessary materials needed to ease his pain and further enhance his magic. Wind magic can be used as both projectiles and an enhancements. This includes gliding, hurling wind blasts, and much more.

Name: Okami Talon

Champion Name: Wolf

Affiliation: Champion of Light

I don't know how many iterations I've gone through for this guy's design. Cloth bits are from CapeMadness, torso decals are from Saber-Scorpion, the katana is from BrickWarriors, and the fingerless glove is from EclipseGrafx. Everything is else is from TLG.

And so the Talon family continues! His father is Orion Talon, and his mother is Kyora Mitsuna (Nightshade). If you're wondering why he has a glowy arm, that's because he was born with a magic arm. This was caused by an intense amount of magic exposure his mother went through when someone flew a space ship she was on through a magic storm (more on that at a later date). The white hair will also be explained at a later date; just know that it wasn't initially like that. The variant of him that you're seeing right now is him following the destruction of Legion. Like many of my main characters (and trust me, this is by far one of my favorite characters), I can't really spoil too much about him, at least not here.

His powers basically consists of a combination of both his parent's powers. Most of his sword techniques he learned from both his uncle and another infamous individual. He typically hides his true potential by never fighting with everything he's got. You really have to work to get him to come at you with everything he's got. Speaking of which, he rather laid back and quite friendly.

As usual, let's cover the design! First off, leg, torso, and back decals are by Saber-Scorpion. The torso and back are from the female gladiator and the legs are just generic gladiator ones. The waist cloth is from CapeMadness, and the yellow ears were painted by me. Both of the arms are from the recent CMF Gladiator and the bag is from Indiana Jones. The tome and unreleased jambiya dagger are from BrickWarriors. I tinkered with her for a bit, but fell in love with this design quickly!

Ah yes, I get to talk about her important background. Well, for starters, she's a pyromancer. It's literally just a fancy title for fire mage. The only difference is that pyromancers basically become the living embodiment of fire. This means that they don't necessarily require a catalyst for casting pyromancy. I should also note that certain "spells" are unique to pyromancy, but more on that if I ever bother to explain the magic in depth. Back to Kara, she's one of the members of the Arcane College in Avaria, which is where the High Elves live. It's basically a giant floating set of islands. Given her natural talent for dungeon delving and history, she particularly studies Hero history.

Which brings me to the topic of Heroes! So, these folks are just great war heroes or adventurers right? Nope! These people are literally super heroes! They can pull off feats that no ordinary person can pull off. The one problem is, all of them are dead (so everyone believes). Most of the stories surrounding their deaths are folklore, which may or may not be true. That's where Kara comes in! She and her team have set forth to discover the truth about their powers, their lives, and their deaths. She's had a surprising amount of luck with finding this information. So yeah, that's who she is and what she does.

Lord Valanar Krekiss, High Commander of Necropolis

A simple, but effective combo! Helmet is from Basil the Bat Lord (TLG: Fright Knights), plate mail is from BrickWarriors, loincloth is from AreaLight Customs, black cape is from CapeMadness, and the claymore is from BrickArms (no longer available). Needed a lovely, edgy look for a vampire commander. This easily fit the bill!

Valanar is the acting commander of all of the Necropolis forces. The only person above him is Dark Lord Lucien Uhlrirk, who is further back in this topic. Currently, he leads the campaign against the Lenarian Elementalists, hoping to capture the Scroll of Life, the supposed cure to the vampire, blood plague. His sword is enchanted with demon fire, thanks to the Lorensi witches that aid walk among the vampires. Infamous for temper, Valanar is quite notorious his low tolerance of failure, which often results in the death of many sub-ordinates. Having served under the previous Dark Lords, he has quite the amount of battlefield experience, and is one of the fiercest vampires in existence. Oh, and he's also one of the few vampires to have ever fought the Wolf Queen, and lived to tell the tale. The scar on his face is a reminder of how close she came from relieving his head from his body.

Junia Aza, Sareshi Mancatcher

Yet another simple combo that turned out perfectly. Legs and hair are from TLG, the face is from Citizen Brick (printed faces are on par with TLG quality), torso and back decals are from Saber-Scorpion, and the Parang Pandit and Retiarius Net from BrickWarriors. Lightly equipped, for a job that needs you to be light on your feet.

Oh boy, this is an odd story bit! Junia is Sareshi born, and was brought up in their ways. She is known for being very fast and tricky. Because of this, she was given the roll of a mancatcher. That's a very literal term; she catches men. But for what purpose? Let's go over the primary reasons!

1) Prisoners: This is a no brainer. Given their raiding patterns, they need intel on caravans moving throughout the Savadjik Desert. Capturing people is a quick and easy way to get information.

2) Sport: To a Sareshi, there is great fun in capturing a man, forcing them into a helpless state as they would do for a woman. Mancatchers are known for doing this just because it entertains them to see them fight and beg.

3) Mating: So this goes without saying. An all female group of barbarians has to reproduce somehow! Their quite rough about it, and when all is said and done corpses are carried out of their home.

As stated, mancatchers have to be quite fast and very tricky. If her looks won't lure people in then she always has a two-handed sword to go maiming people. Seriously, just don't piss off the Sareshi!